Thursday, April 14, 2016

Lately there has been an extremely frisky juvenile humpback whale swimming around English Bay. It arrived over the Easter weekend and caught some boaters by happy surprise out in the middle of the bay and they were able to capture it on video as it seemed to chase them.

The following weekend people noticed the same whale cruising along off Kits and Jericho beaches enjoying his Sunday dinner and posing for the occasional photograph. It was back again for a 3rd weekend and it seemed as if he was getting ready to look for a place to live until he found out how expensive this city is. Nonetheless he was still cruising around Jericho on Monday when he encountered a pair of kayakers who made an amazing video as he swam up to them and nearly swamped their boat.

Where this whale's parents and friends are is a complete mystery but as long as he finds enough to eat in the English Bay fridge it would appear he is just fine hanging out here on his own. Young people these days have way too much adult supervision and it's nice to see that even though he is on his own he is still very well behaved. Given that humpback whales can be heard singing under water for thousands of miles I'm sure it won't be long before he either goes back home or someone comes to find him.

Humpback whales pass by our coastline every year as they migrate from their breeding grounds in California & Hawaii to their feeding grounds in Alaska. B.C. offers plenty of food as well but usually the whales stick to the West Coast or Northern tip of Vancouver Island. But there's more than one way to get to Alaska and sometimes heading up the Inside Passage through the Salish Sea (Georgia Straight) is just as convenient. It's always special to see one of these friendly giants in the neighbourhood and a little teenage wildlife reminds us of how important it is to be free.http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2016/04/humpback-whale-vancouver-video-point-grey/